engleski

Pyrimidine degradation in E. coli: I. Effect of dihydrouracil and barbituric acid on growth of whole bacteria

In media suboptimally supplied with a nitrogen source, bacteria E.coli catabolise pyrimidines, thymine and uracil, to ureido-CO2. The aim of investigations reported here was to establish which of the two known degradation mechanisms - oxidative via barbituric acids or reductive via dihydropyrimidines, might be operating in E. coli K12S. By combining the growth- and biochemical experimenths, it was shown that clue intermediates of above pathways do not affect the bacterial growth and are not catabolised to ureido-CO2. Since urea only was identified as a catabolite but bacteria showed no urease activity, it was concluded that pyrimidine degradation in E.coli K12S starved for nitrogen source, proceeds by different mechanism.

E.coli ; pyrimidine catabolism ; dihydrouracil ; barbituric acid

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